This invention relates to a gas laser system and in particular to a gas laser system which emits radiation at a discrete set of lines in addition to the radiation at the regular set of lines.
Conventional gas lasers which use CO.sub.2 or an isotope thereof, emit many discrete lines centered between approximately 9 and 11 .mu.m. These regular laser bands are the result of (00.degree.1-[10.degree.0, 02.degree.0].sub.I,II) transitions. Similarly, conventional grating-tuned gas lasers which use N.sub.2 O or an isotope thereof, emit many discrete lines centered around 10.65 .mu.m. These laser lines are the result of (00.degree.1-10.degree.0) transitions.
Though these conventional lasers have found widespread use in such fields as molecular absorption studies, it has been found that for many applications, the laser in question does not have a spectral line which coincides with the specimen under study.